It's not like he doesn't have money or anything, how else did he pay for those Bitvest/777coin/Eloncoin banner slots all these months? And those things are expensive.
Of course he has money (most likely), that's not the issue here. It's just that he doesn't care much about being on time with payments and has a long history of doing that, as seen in his trust feedback. So yeah, those willing to work for him should be prepared to be paid at his whim.
I can bet you that even after all this is finally resolved and people get their money, if he launches another shitcoin project and start looking for admins/whatever, bunch of people would apply anyway. It's just how it is here, a lot of members willing to take a risk for a couple of satoshis, like bounty hunters do all the time.
I think the scenario is different here. I guess he set aside too high a percentage of his earnings on marketing and promotion. plus, as far as I can see he has run some more altcoin projects, which caused him additional costs.
Probably things didn't go according to plan, and he began to lack money for expenses. so it fell into a negative circle, less money causes poorer promotion, which in turn brings in less money...
in my opinion, this is the only logical explanation. Even if he had some serious private problems, he could give a brief explanation and ask in advance for patience and very possible delay in payments. I'm sure he would get the necessary understanding.